Disease Presentation

While atypical disease presentation may indeed be the norm for older frail adults presenting with disease, the implications of this type of presentation are less well understood. Those adults who present atypically tend to do worse in terms of adverse hospital outcomes, particularly in terms of admission to long-term care facilities following discharge from an acute care hospital. They are more often restrained in hospital, given nighttime sedation, and wind up with pressure ulcers than those who present typically. These older adults, particularly those who are frail, tend to have a poorer prognosis than those who present with typical disease symptoms.